states' rights
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states' rights
also States' rights (stāts)pl.n.
1. All rights not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution nor denied by it to the states.
2. The political position advocating strict interpretation of the Constitution with regard to the limitation of federal powers and the extension of the autonomy of the individual state to the greatest possible degree.
states' righter n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
states' rights
(in the US) pl n (often capitals)
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the rights and powers generally conceded to the states, or all those powers claimed for the states under some interpretations of the Constitution
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a doctrine advocating the severe curtailment of Federal powers by such an interpretation of the Constitution
states' righter n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
states'′ rights′
n.pl.
the rights belonging to the states, esp. with reference to the strict construction of the Constitution by which all rights not delegated to the federal government belong to the states.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | states' rights - a doctrine that federal powers should be curtailed and returned to the individual states doctrine, ism, philosophical system, philosophy, school of thought - a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school nullification - the states'-rights doctrine that a state can refuse to recognize or to enforce a federal law passed by the United States Congress |
2. | states' rights - the rights conceded to the states by the United States constitution right - an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature; "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"; "Certain rights can never be granted to the government but must be kept in the hands of the people"- Eleanor Roosevelt; "a right is not something that somebody gives you; it is something that nobody can take away" plural, plural form - the form of a word that is used to denote more than one |
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